Hearing Gwendith list down their objectives, Yuriko couldn’t help but think that she was out of her depth. She’s been to many battles now and she had never been in command effectively. The most she did was tell her second to act as she saw fit while she took independent action.

However, that wasn’t entirely wrong, if she thought about it.

Powerful combatants, Knight level warriors and above, had such a great impact on the battlefield that they were as effective as a century of troops, if not a cohort. Yuriko’s prowess in battle was probably higher than Knight now, but she wasn’t sure if she reached the Knight-Captain level. It meant that by herself, she could wipe out that troop of barbarians provided that they didn’t have powerful warriors of their own. With the way she could throw stones, she didn’t even have to be close. One of the weaknesses of her style had been shored up.

Her Enhanced Sight gave her clear vision up until five hundred or so paces away. Maybe more now, but the terrain here wasn’t flat. She could wipe them out without even coming near them. All she needed to do was reinforce her projectiles properly. Even a snowball was lethal.

It was much like a game of Shatran, she realised. They were vastly outnumbered, but they were hidden and their pieces were more powerful. She remembered a few of her gambits that worked. Set out bait, wait for the enemy to come to it, and strike at the original target.

The Avos piece in Shatran was both mobile and powerful, allowing her to use it in hit and run tactics. She attrited Finan’s legionnaire pieces that way.

Of course Finan also set his own traps and her Avos had wound up cornered and captured. Drawing her parallels, if she acted as bait, she had to be careful lest she find herself trapped and defeated. If they had powerful pieces then her gambit wouldn’t work either.

Well, in the board game, part of the rules allowed her to reinforce herself with captured pieces. Would she be able to do the same here? Could she use her Mien to force the barbarians to fight each other?

A shudder ran through her entire body. Wouldn’t that be crossing the line? The Mien was an unwelcome part of herself, but if she used it like that, what kind of person would she wind up as? Even if her targets were savages?

For that matter, looking at Desire, didn’t she affect Ashley in the same way? Or were her intentions pure? She wanted to bring the Chaos Lord back to her family, and to the Church, to see if they could reverse the process and return Ashley to humanity.

No, if she used her Mien, then it would be better if she just plain killed them instead.

Pavo carefully led them towards the barbarian scouts. Yuriko kept an eye on the Veil that was just a couple of longstrides away. The Tidelands was to the northeast, and the supposed entrance to the fortress, southeast. She hoped that there was a path off the plateau to the west or southwest, but they may have to force march east instead. She didn’t have a keen grasp on where they were, just that they were far north of Fort Argermonth, and that the weather was perpetually freezing.

Her Anima glowed, having condensed just above her skin. She couldn’t bring it within her without abandoning the Animus she had stored in her outer reserves. She thought to just abandon the excess, but they were in an active combat area and she thought the risk of being spotted was worth having five times more Animus than what her interior reserves would allow. She could fight for much longer with her current Animus recovery rate but that was contingent on active effort. Her normal recovery rate was unchanged and depended heavily on the density of ambient Chaos. In Rumiga, it took her an entire night, or half a day, to refill her reserves.

They stopped at the edge of the grove and Yuriko activated her Enhanced Sight.

“They’re just over the hill,” Pavo said. “I had to bend light away from my body so I wouldn’t be skylined.”

The hill crested about seventy paces away and was a barren patch of tundra. The pine trees around her were too short, and perhaps the only way to gain sight of them was to crawl up the hill and look over the crest. Or wait for them to cross.

“Let’s stay back a bit?” Pavo asked.

Yuriko nodded. “How many?”

“Ten men.”

“I’ll make this quick,” Yuriko decided. Gwendith protested, but Yuriko shook her off. “We’ll have to move our shelter. Even if none of them escape, they’re too close anyway. Kalla, take Sheamus with you and scout out another likely place. Return to the shelter in two hours even if you don’t find a good place.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Yuriko expanded her Anima under her feet so that she wouldn’t sink into the snow. She also grabbed a handful of snow and compressed them into ice. Then she hurried over to the hill, waving for the others to remain behind. Once she neared the crest, she dropped to her hands and knees to crawl up, lowering herself on her belly once she reached the crest. When she peeked over the hill, she didn’t have any trouble seeing the scouts.

There were a bit more than the ten Pavo spotted earlier, but that was of no matter. They were only a hundred and fifty paces away and they were following a low pass around the hills. If they continued on, they might stumble on the grove where the shelter was.

Yuriko pulled back from the crest and signalled the others, indicating that she saw the barbarians. Then she flared her Anima a bit and spun the ice pebbles up to speed. She quickly gathered enough snow to make twelve pebbles. She hesitated for a moment then made a couple more in case she missed. Taking a deep breath, she stood up and shot out the pebbles. The first one shattered a trailing barbarian’s skull.

Ploop!

None of the others even noticed. The second died the same way, and it wasn’t until the fourth target that someone managed to keep his life by a trick of fate. He stumbled over a dip in the ground and the pebble hit his shoulder. His high pitched scream made everyone spin around and stare. Her fifth pebble killed the screamer but it was too late to do it quietly. The surviving barbarians pointed at her, screaming.

Then, all of the survivors turned tail and ran.

Cursing, Yuriko shot the pebbles until there were only two left. They dove behind cover, one behind a tree while the other jumped behind a boulder. The snow pellets shattered part of the trunk with splinters flying all over, but the boulder was unaffected. She gathered more ice and snow and kept shooting them even as she ran down the hill. She caught the one hiding behind the tree when he stuck his head out to peek, but the other barbarian had managed to slip away.

A few minutes later, Yuriko saw the ravine he’d crawled into and saw his tracks in the snow. The ravine twisted and turned, and there was no telling where he’d end up. She debated running after him but decided to let the barbarian go. If she was to attract attention here, they needed to know of the danger.

“Yuri!” Gwendith staggered to a halt behind her. “What?”

“One escaped,” Yuriko said. “We return for now and look for another campsite. Then we keep doing this.”

“You really think we can whittle them down? What if their elite warriors come?”

“That would be a nice challenge,” Yuriko answered absently. “Come on.”

Desire and Pavo remained by the grove. They returned to the shelter as soon as Yuriko and Gwen returned. At the shelter, they packed up everything then proceeded to melt down the frozen dome. An hour later, Sheamus returned and led them to the new site, which was at the cliff. They’d found a small path that led a couple of dozen paces below the edge, and found a shallow cave. They set up their new shelter there, camouflaging the entrance and setting up enough rooms for some privacy.

“How are we sneaking inside?” Gwendith mused as they prepared dinner. It was just more ration bar stew, although blue-veined grass sap had been added to it.

“How extensive are the tunnels anyway?” Yuriko asked.

“Quite.” Gwendith grumbled, “The outer tunnels are practically abandoned save for a few watches set. But the interiors are crowded. There’s more than enough room to fit all of them and then some. The kennels are near the Grand Cavern though. All tunnels eventually pass by that one.” She gave Yuriko a searching look, “You’re tall enough to pass for a barbarian youth, but nobody wears cloaks there. Just tunics and trousers at most. The Iron Skin sometimes doesn't bother with tunics too.” There was more than a hint of bitterness there.

Thinking back, Yuriko did remember that when she and the others fought the Iron Skin Tribe, they were shirtless then.

“Then just wearing heavier clothing wouldn’t work.” She muttered.

“The barbarian women are better clothed, but if we disguise as such, we would be out of place,” Gwendith muttered. “There’s no way to disguise as a warrior, I think.”

“So, we can only keep out of sight,” Yuriko said grimly. “Subdue or kill anyone who sees us.”

“That will be difficult.” Gwendith remarked.

The scouts won't be infiltrating with Yuriko and Gwendith, since she asked them to find a way off the cliff. The path that was just outside their cave looked promising, actually, if not for the fact that it narrowed too much and then just stopped a couple of dozen paces away. There was a continuing path though, but there was a twenty pace gap, a sheer fall all the way down.

They could carve out a bridge, but Sheamus thought that there should be a better way farther west.

“If I may,” Desire interrupted, “I can construct an image over our forms. I can either make us invisible to the eye, or I can make disguises…” she trailed off.

“But what’s the catch?” Yuriko asked.

“Erm, I don’t think my illusions would survive getting touched by your light, Master.”

“Oh, why don’t we try it then.”

Desire nodded then started to hum. Her fingers writhed and weaved around her. Yuriko activated her Chaos Sight and saw strands of Chaos, aspected with Desire’s Anima, form into strings that wound around her body. But when they settled over her skin, they melted away.

The Chaos Lord shook her head.

Yuriko sighed. What would be better for her? Release her outer Animus reserves and allow the disguise to take hold or just storm the fortress? If they were caught inside, she would have fewer resources to fight with. But the question was if an extra eight hundred lumens would be enough to fight through the entire horde in the first place? She loved a challenge, of course, but it didn’t mean she’d seek one if it made accomplishing her goals more difficult. Still, she’d better find out if retracting her Anima would allow Desire’s skill to work.

She focused on her arm and pulled her Anima beneath the skin. She nudged the runescript weaving holding her excess Animus away from the area, and wound up having to dissipate a few strands, lowering her cap by twenty lumens. Then she nodded to Desire.

The woman attempted her disguise song, focusing on Yuriko’s arm. The strings touched her skin and didn’t melt away, changing the tone to match the barbarian’s grey colour. Desire made her muscles bulge out a bit more, thickened her fingers and made calluses appear. After she was done, a distinctly masculine forearm and hand had replaced Yuriko’s daintier features.

Desire smiled and undid the illusion. “It takes a bit of my Chaos Well to initiate this, and drains me a few motes every minute. I’ll probably need to draw more Animus from your reserves, Master, to keep this going.”

“Would it be easier to make us invisible instead?”

Desire hummed in thought. “Perhaps, but if they have any refined Chaos Senses they might notice us. No, if they see something they expect to see, they’re less likely to look closer.”

“Does that mean we’ll have to capture and copy the likeness of some barbarian warriors?” Gwendith asked.

“It would help, yes,” Desire answered. “Master, please make sure they keep their heads this time.”

“Fine,” Yuriko mumbled. It was just easier to use the pebbles and kill them that way, alright! She missed being a ranged Striker! She thumbed her side-blade’s hilt. She’d better use this rather than Fri’Avgi or a sunblade.

Well, time to hunt then.